Chapter 1866: Tomb Nurtures Corpse, Mound Breeds Ghost

“The talisman won’t kill the ghost, but will fully suppress it!” Moran Linlang lit up. They’d formed a feud with the ghost because of a certain matter and had schemed against each other for a while now in the World of Soul Dominion. It would be most ideal if the sisters could take it out.

“But you guys need to first tell me what this world is testing. Are candidates supposed to kill each other? That seems a bit… base,” Lu Yun wondered with confusion.

“Of course not, our ultimate goal is to survive for one year. No matter how we do it or what shape we end up in, surviving for one year will result in great benefits,” replied Moran Linglong. “Don’t think of it as an easy task, this world changes from second to second. If you can’t adapt, death might come for you the next time you turn around.”

Boom!

An enormous explosion rang outside the cave, causing it to collapse.

“You just had to run your mouth!” Moran Linlang cursed and grabbed the other two, barreling out of the moderately-sized hole.

A herd of beasts ran past them, setting off earthquakes whenever they charged. Mountains fell and the earth split open wherever they passed through. Destructive power radiated in all directions.

“What are those?!” Lu Yun stood in the air with a pale face.

They didn’t seem to be monsters, but each of them was as large as a small mountain. Their teeth were flat and their bodies ponderous—all signs pointed to them being herbivores. However, they exuded the ripples of a supreme. They trailed destructive power in their wake, power that was solidly on par with a supreme’s!

A bunch of supremes that ate grass!

“This herd of beasts is one of the true dangers of the World of Soul Dominion and one of the missions during our trial,” Moran Linlang swept a glance over Lu Yun. “As strong as they might be, they are the equivalent of ordinary animals in the mundane worlds. All they possess is brute force. They have no combat arts or intelligence, so you might kill them if you precisely hit their weak spot.

“There are two rules in this world. First, make it to the end of one year in one piece. The second, kill three hundred and sixty-five supreme-level beasts, collecting the core inside their brain.”

“Can carnivorous ants with sharp teeth bite a herbivorous sheep to death?” Lu Yun shook his head after he heard the girl’s words. Quick calculations showed that his current level of strength wouldn’t make a dent in these beasts’ defenses. He wouldn’t even break through their hide with a blow at full strength.

More importantly was that there had to be meat-eating supremes around if there were already grass-eating ones in sight. Though he was an ant to these beasts, there were plenty of animals that ate ants and mosquitoes!

Surviving for three hundred and sixty-five days seemed much easier than collecting that many cores.

“Yes, those beasts may be cows and sheep, but we are no ants,” Moran Linglong chuckled. “Big sis and I have gotten twenty cores already! We also started feuding with that ghost because of cores.”

Lu Yun nodded silently.

“There must be other uses for the cores, right?” he asked.

Moran Linlang looked at him like she was registering the presence of an idiot. “What use do you think there is for the core essence of a supreme?”

Lu Yun shrugged without another word. The herd of beasts stampeding in front of them was raising a disturbance that was a cataclysmic earthquake to him. It was now that he realized how frightening the mental pressure must have been when the group of senior cultivators faced the one hundred million headless supremes.

“They haven’t been spooked by something, this is just an ordinary migration. Let us shift to another location.” Moran Linlang led them in another direction after observing the beasts for a bit.

Lu Yun started. A regular occurrence was calamitous disaster to him! If it hadn’t been for the older girl’s swift reaction earlier, he would be dead to the beasts’ hooves. His decision seemed more correct the longer time went on. Tempering and dignity didn’t matter to a newcomer—latching onto a big thigh and surviving, getting to know the lay of the land was the most important.

He wasn’t familiar with the World of Soul Dominion, but Chu Xingran was. The latter had once prepared to train here, but his cultivation had been lacking. He’d wanted to give an overview of the situation to Lu Yun once they entered, but the arrows interrupted him and then they were separated.

As for the Myriad Spirit Supreme… he was so immensely confident in Lu Yun that he hadn’t bothered telling the young man anything. Everything was up to his own exploration. Such was a true test.

……

The group quickly located another moderately sized mountain valley and dug a cave in the wall. Lu Yun didn’t pepper them with questions. He was beginning to understand that the denizens of the worlds were likely all supremes at the very least. Exposing himself to their gaze meant courting death.

The supremes were ordinary beings, just so strong that they’d reached a supreme level. They didn’t know how to use their mind to lock onto a being’s life force, but utilized their eyes to search out prey instead. Thus, a mountain cave was the safest place. All the same, concealing their vitality remained very important. Lu Yun firmly believed there were even more frightening entities in the world.

“We have to use our smarts against the old ghost, not strength. Otherwise, both sides will end up heavily injured despite us having your talisman,” Moran Linlang said thoughtfully once they were inside the cave. “The ghost cultivator is very interested in tombs. We created that one close to it to lure the ghost in, but you ruined it. It won’t be that easy to trick it again.”

Countless powerhouses had died in the World of Soul Dominion. Even without someone building a tomb for them, their corpses being on the ground caused a layout of burial to come into existence and a crude tomb to form.

The sisters had borrowed one that’d taken shape and used a beast core as bait. One laid in wait inside and the other prepared an ambush from outside. However, Lu Yun had been one step ahead of them and wrecked their plans.

“That won’t work,” Lu Yun shook his head. “A tomb nurtures a corpse and a mound breeds ghosts. Your tomb won’t have attracted it—it wasn’t fooled from beginning to end. If I hadn’t blundered in, it would pretend to be trapped, but then turn on you guys instead.”

The ghost cultivator was interested in tombs simply for the treasures inside. Most cultivators were naturally interested in tombs as well. There was also a basis for the saying of “tomb nurtures corpse and mound breeds ghost.”

Zombies formed when a corpse accumulated malevolence, and yin ghosts formed when a soul accumulated resentment.

In the layout of a burial, a tomb could become a minor world of the dead. It allowed the dead to rest within and their soul to find release. Their resentment in life would slowly fade away. But since it was a layout of yin, once the malevolence reached a certain level, it would enter the tomb owner’s body and create a mutation.

That was why there were so many zombies in tombs and few yin ghosts.

Burial mounds, however, were different. As the most simplistic form of burial, they couldn’t come together in a complete system of burial. Those who died natural deaths weren’t affected, but those who died unjustified deaths couldn’t find release in a burial mound. Their resentment would grow until they turned into a yin ghost. Some great personages expanded their burial mounds with resentment if laid in one and ultimately turned it into a mountain.

The layout of burial inside a mound was too crude to form a minor world, so it was too difficult to collect sufficient malevolence to corrupt the body. Hence, there were more ghosts in burial mounds than zombies.

Of course, none of this was an absolute rule and there were always exceptions. It just held true for most tombs and burial mounds.

While ghost cultivators were different from ordinary yin ghosts, they all operated on the basis of resentment. The stronger the bitterness, the stronger the cultivator. Burial mounds were what they cultivated in and helped them collect resentment.

A ghost cultivator wasn’t blinded by bitterness. Instead, it became their source of strength, or even weapon. If they wanted to lure a ghost, they had to build a burial mound.

“What is your relationship to Xie Tianxun?” The two sisters stared blankly at Lu Yun after they heard his explanation.

“We know each other and have a bit of a relationship,” Lu Yun said. “Chu Xingran and Xie Tianxun visited the Firmament Prison a while ago. I brought them out.”

Moran Linglong raised her thumb at Lu Yun.

“When did Xie Tianxun become friends with Chu Xingran?” Moran Linlang frowned. “Alright, we’ll do as you say!”